Baldwin & Sons
Islamic Coin Auction 27 10 December 2014
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ISLAMIC COINS, ABBASID, Anonymous, temp. al-Mansur, Silver Dirham, Madinat al-Salam 147h, 2.84g (Lowick 1165). Extremely fine, a very rare date and an even rarer type for the mint.
When the caliph al-Mansur opened the Abbasid mint in his new capital Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad) in the year 146h, he continued to employ the "Damascus" style of calligraphy that had been used on his Dirham coinage of al-Hashimiya in 145h. This coin confirms that the Madinat al-Salam mint changed its calligraphic style from that of Damascus to that of al-Kufa at some time early in the year 147h. This change illustrates a cultural shift in the Abbasid caliphate, leaving behind the Syrian coinage style of the Umayyads for that of the Iraqi east. The date 147h is very rarely encountered from Madinat al-Salam. Lowick records only one example of this Damascus type known to him through a single "unpublished" photograph, and this is the first example seen by the cataloguer.
Estimate: £6000-8000
When the caliph al-Mansur opened the Abbasid mint in his new capital Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad) in the year 146h, he continued to employ the "Damascus" style of calligraphy that had been used on his Dirham coinage of al-Hashimiya in 145h. This coin confirms that the Madinat al-Salam mint changed its calligraphic style from that of Damascus to that of al-Kufa at some time early in the year 147h. This change illustrates a cultural shift in the Abbasid caliphate, leaving behind the Syrian coinage style of the Umayyads for that of the Iraqi east. The date 147h is very rarely encountered from Madinat al-Salam. Lowick records only one example of this Damascus type known to him through a single "unpublished" photograph, and this is the first example seen by the cataloguer.
Estimate: £6000-8000